This book brings together what is known of the material aspects of the paintings of East Asia (China, Japan and Korea), covering the components used, painting structures, certain aspects of painting techniques, and the mechanisms of deterioration. It concentrates on those works in the mainstream of art history, largely paintings on flexible supports and typically mounted as scrolls. The author bases his account on what is known from the available historical literature, on research published by colleagues worldwide, and on his own research of over thirty-five years at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.